Radionavigație

Octavian Thor Pleter, PhD, PhD, MBA (MBS), AFRIN, FRAeS

This presentation draws on ideas from Dr. Pleter’s articles, books, and unpublished manuscripts. No part of this
publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means or in any form - electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise - without written consent from Octavian Thor Pleter or the
Brainbond consultancy firm, www.brainbond.ro Version 5.0 dated 5 October 2020 © O. T. Pleter and Brainbond

RNV 10 1
 Course Outlines
1. Radio Waves. Radio Technology. Radiolocation. Propagation.
2. Antennas. Range. Directivity. Modulations. Superheterodyne.
3. Radio Navigation Systems. Radiogoniometry: Automatic Direction Finder (ADF) – Non-
Directional Beacon (NDB). Gisment.
4. Ground DF services: VDF/UDF/DDF. Radio Markers (MKR). Radiodrome. VOR Principle.
VOR - VHF Omnidirectional Range. Relevments, LOP. Doppler VOR (DVOR).
5. Radio Magnetic Indicator (RMI). Course Deviation Indicator (CDI). Horizontal Situation
Indicator (HSI). Navigation Display (ND).
6. Radiotelemetry: Distance Measuring Equipment (DME).
7. Radar Altimeter (R ALT).
8. Terrestrial Positioning Systems: Area Navigation (RNAV). Rho-Theta Positioning. Theta-
Theta and Rho-Rho Positioning. Hyperbolic Positioning. Long Range Nav (LORAN).
Flight Management System (FMS).
9. Landing Systems: Instrument Landing System (ILS). Localizer (LLZ). Glide Path (GP). ILS
Markers (OM, MM, IM).
10. Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). Global Positioning System (GPS). GPS
errors. Differential GPS. Wide Area Augmentation (WAAS). EGNOS, Galileo, Glonass,
Compass.
11. Surveillance Systems: Radars, Mode A/C, Mode S, ADS/B. Multilateration.
12. Airborne Collision Avoidance Systems (ACAS/TCAS)
RNV 10 2
Solution 4: Global Positioning using stations on circumnavigating
satellites

RNV 10 3
 Global Positioning System (GPS)

V2 mM GM
m G 2 V UHF (1.57542 / 1.2276 GHz)
R R R
naval, aviation and terrestrial
use (inter-army missions)
G = 6.6726 x 10-11 m3/kg/s2
24 circumnavigation satellites
- the universal constant of gravitation covering the entire Earth
M = 5.98 x 1024 kg – mass of the Earth created by US DoD in 1970s,
operational from 1994

high accuracy: EPE = 100 m

RNV 10 4
 Global Positioning System (GPS)

2 Uniform coverage: mobility

V mM GM
m G V
in the sky
RH R  H 
2
RH
Every satellite
circumnavigates in 12
G = 6.6726 x 10-11 m3/kg/s2
hours (twice every day) d =
43200 s
- the universal constant of gravitation

M = 5.98 x 1024 kg – mass of the Earth 2    R  H 

V
d
d 2
G  M
H 3  R  20, 249km
16   2

RNV 10 5
 GPS orbit

3 satellites –
complete
coverage

4 satellites –
fault-tolerant
complete
coverage

RNV 10 6
 GPS orbit

55° inclination

generation of 6 orbits
with 30° angular
offset

total of 24 satellites

orbit inclination
avoids nodal points
for all 24 satellites

RNV 10 7
 GPS orbit

55° inclination

generation of 6 orbits
with 30° angular
offset

total of 24 satellites

orbit inclination
avoids nodal points
for all 24 satellites

RNV 10 8
 GPS orbit

55° inclination

generation of 6 orbits
with 30° angular
offset

total of 24 satellites

orbit inclination
avoids nodal points
for all 24 satellites

RNV 10 9
 GPS satellite track
(red dots) and area
coverage at a given
moment (yellow dot)

RNV 10 10
 ECEF = Earth Centered
Earth Fixed co-ordinate
system

the law of movement of

each satellite with respect to
ECEF is known:

xk  t  , yk  t  , zk  t 

RNV 10 11
 How does it work?

Each satellite transmits its

identity and the exact time

The user with the unknown

ECEF position x, y, z
receives the exact time and
compares it with the current
exact time

The difference comes from

the propagation delay from
the satellite to the user

r1 is measured

RNV 10 12
  x  x1 2   y  y1 2   z  z1 2  r12

       r 22
2 2 2
 x  x2  y  y 2  z  z 2

        r32
2
 
2
 
2
 x x 3 y y 3 z z3

RNV 10 13
 Time accuracy problem

Satellites have an atomic

clock on board

Ground stations monitor

satellite time accuracy and
upload time corrections
every 3 hours if necessary

Satellite time measurement

accuracy = 10−12 s

RNV 10 14
 There is no way to match
this accuracy for the user.

A GPS locator has a quartz

clock with a time
measurement accuracy of
just 10−6 s

This time error translates

into 30 m position error

Solution: introduce the 4th

unknown et time error, and a
4th satellite

RNV 10 15
  x  x1 2   y  y1 2   z  z1 2   r1  c0  e t 2

 x  x2    y  y2    z  z2    r 2  c0  e t 
2 2 2 2


        r e 
2
 
2
 
2
  
2
 x x 3 y y 3 z z 3 3 c0 t

       r e 
2 2 2 2
 x  x4  y  y 4  z  z 4  4  c 0  t

RNV 10 16
RNV 10 17
GPS Locator Block Diagram

RNV 10 18
GPS Carriers

RNV 10 19
GPS Data Format

RNV 10 20
 GPS Errors (95% Probability)

• Selective Availability: 100 m (given up by 2000)

• Geometric Dilution of Precision: - (compensated by algorithm)
• Ionospheric Refraction: 20-30 m afternoon 1-6m at night (may
use 2 frequencies to compensate)
• Tropospheric Refraction: 30 m for low elevation satellites (may
use 2 frequencies to compensate)
• Ephemeris error: 1-3 m (control segment intervenes)
• Satellite clock errors: 1.5 m
• Multipath errors: 0.6 m (affects terrestrial navigation)
• Relativist Effect: - (compensates by algorithm)
• Receiver noise error: 0.3 m

RNV 10 21
Ephemeris Error

RNV 10 22
GPS Control

RNV 10 23
Ionosphere Error

RNV 10 24
Compensating Ionosphere Error

RNV 10 25
Multipath Error

RNV 10 26
Visual representation of GPS errors enroute

RNV 10 27
Visual representation of GPS errors in the CTR

RNV 10 28
Differential GPS = Local Area Augmentation System

RNV 10 29
Differential GPS = Wide Area Augmentation System
SBAS = Satellite Based Augmentation System

RNV 10 30
EGNOS = European Geostationary Navigation Overlay System

RNV 10 31
 Navigation Systems Requirements

• accuracy = capability of a system to meet accuracy

requirements as per the phase of flight in the US Federal Radio
Navigation Plan

• integrity = probability to detect an functional anomaly or a

perverting signal and to produce timely warnings

• availability = the percentage of time that navigation signals are

available for use

• continuity = probability of the system to function without any

interruption during the phase of flight

RNV 10 32
RNV 10 33